The Infinitive as Part of a Compound Verbal Predicate

The infinitive is used in compound verbal predicates of three types.

I. In compound verbal modal predicate after the modal verbs can, may, might, ought, must, shall, should, will, would, need, dare, to be, to have.

I can tell you nothing at all about him.

She ought to have told me before.

II. In compound verbal phrasal predicate after verbs denoting various stages of the action, such as its beginning, continuation or end. These verbs, which are often called phrasal verbs, form a close set, of which the verbs to begin, to come, to start, to continue, to go on, to cease, can form a compound verbal phrasal predicate with the infinitive:

Now I begin to understand you.

Then she came to realize what it all meant.

They continued to whisper.

After all these verbs the infinitive retains to.

The verbs to begin, to continue and to start can also be followed by a gerund, although with a slight difference in meaning.¹

Note: The verb_to stop in addition to its phrasal meaning (to interrupt-or to put an end to an action), in which it is followed by a gerund, also means to halt, to pause, in which case it may be followed by an infinitive functioning as an adverbial modifier of, purpose.

He stopped to see what it was. He stopped seeing her.

Он остановился, чтобы посмот- Он перестал с ней встречаться,

реть, что это такое.

III. In the compound verbal predicate which has no analogy in Russian. The three subtypes of this predicate can be distinguished according to the structure which constitutes the first part:

1. The first part is expressed by one of the following intransitive verbs in the active voice: to seem — казаться; to appear—оказаться, казаться; to prove, to turn out— оказаться; to happen, to chance— слу­чаться.

The strange little man seemed to read my thoughts. - Странный человечек, казалось,читал мои мысли.

The, man seemed to have come from far off. - Казалось, этот человек при ехал откуда-то издалека.

Nothing appeared to be hap pening there. - Казалось, что здесь ничего не происходило.

He appeared to have been running all the way. - Казалось, что он пробежал всю дорогу бегом.

He proved to be a healthy child. - Он оказался здоровым ре­бенком.

The night turned out to be cold. - Ночь оказалась холодной.

Don't you happen to know her? – Ты ее случайно не знаешь?

Note 1: After the verbs to prove and to turn out the infinitival part is mostly presented by the phrase "to be + noun or adjective".

Note 2: After the verbs to seem, to appear, to happen, which are the most frequent of the group all analytical forms of the infinitive are rather broadly used.

Note 3: Simple sentences with this type of predicate are synonymous with complex sentences of certain pattern:

He seems to be smiling. It seems that lie is smiling.

She appeared to have said all. It appeared that she had said all.

2. The first part of the predicate is expressed by me passive voice forms of certain transitive verbs. They are:

a) verbs of saying: to announce, to declare, to report, to say, to state.

She was announced to be the winner. – Ее объявили победительницей. (Было объявлено, что победила она).

He is said to have returned at last. – Говорят, что он наконец вернулся.

3. verbs of mental activity: to believe, to consider, to expect, to find, to know, to mean, to presume, to regard, to suppose, to think, to understand

He’s supposed to be leaving tonight. – Предполагают (предполагается), что он уезжает сегодня вечером.

She is believed to be a clever girl. – Ее считают умной девушкой. (Считается, что она умная девушка.)

Her father was thought to have died long ago. – Считалось (считали, думали, полагали), что ее отец давным-давно умер.

4. the verb to make:

He was made to keep silent. – Его заставили замолчать.

3. The first part is expressed by the phrases: to be likely, to be unlikely, to be sure, to be certain. In this case only the non-perfect forms of the infinitive are used, with future reference.

She is likely to be late.

He is sure to become your friend.

In all these three subtypes the infinitive is always used with the particle to.